The Two-Way

10:39 am

Tue November 12, 2013

Mexican Officials Say Former Texas Cop Led Kidnap Ring

A man who served in the U.S. military and as a Texas police officer has been arrested near Monterrey, Mexico, where authorities say he led a kidnapping gang. The 32-year-old suspect is known by two names: Luis Ricardo Gonzalez Garcia and Javier Aguirre Cardenas, according to Mexican law enforcement officials. The 16-member gang is blamed for several violent crimes.

Officials say the suspect was traveling in a car in an upscale neighborhood on the edge of Monterrey last month when he was arrested. He was reportedly carrying a 9 mm handgun.

Other alleged members of the kidnapping ring also were rounded up last month, according to police who announced the arrests Monday.

"The suspected gang leader is accused of ordering the September 25 kidnapping of Jorge Luis Martinez Martinez, the 70-year-old father of the mayor of the town of Zuazua, a suburb of Monterrey.

"The victim was found dead five days later in the neighboring state of Coahuila even though a ransom had been paid for his release."

Mexico's Informador news site reports the man's name is Gonzalez Garcia and that Cardenas is an alias. While some confusion exists over which branch of the armed forces he served in, CNN Mexico says the suspect was in the U.S. Army.

In Mexico, "official figures show that 1,205 people were abducted in the first nine months of the year, compared to 1,317 in 2012," AFP says.